I have written before about my ardent love for Fringe Festivals — smorgasbords of new, developing and boundary-pushing theater, dance, and art experiences. (Read a bit more about my local Fringe here and here.)

In the course of my fanatical passion for this art form, I have made several friends who make their living performing across the country’s Fringe festivals. In the late summer many of these artists follow the path of major Canadian festivals, which include Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Vancouver. (You can read a piece about my Edmonton Fringe Festival experience in Cincinnati CityBeat.)

After the festival season winds down, artists will often plan their routes home based on other performances they can put together in order to make their gas and food money for the trip and to meet new audiences. This September, two groups of these artist-friends are stopping in Fort Collins, Colorado on their drives across America!

It would mean the world to me to see friendly faces at these two performances. Both are artists whose work I have seen many times and whose artistry I completely vouch for. These shows are like nothing else I’ve seen — and I’ve seen a good deal. Get your tickets soon!

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 7pm | La-De-Da Performing Arts
Paul Strickland, “90 Lies an Hour”
Facebook event | Tickets on Eventbrite ($20)

Winner, “Best Comedy Solo Show” at Orlando Fringe
Critic’s Pick, Cincinnati CityBeat
Winner, encore performance at Cincinnati Fringe Festival

90 Lies an Hour is the 4th Show in Paul Strickland’s Trailer-Park Tall-Tale Trilogy. Paul Strickland’s Ain’t True and Uncle False live in Big-Fib Trailer-Park cul-de-sac, which is a trailer-park in the shape of a cul-de-sac in a town called Big-Fib. “It’s a small community way down south… just off the coast of “Factual.” In fact, if you leave “Factual” and head due south you’ll pass “Big-Fib” on your way to “Bald-Faced.” Obviously, if you get to “Bald-Faced”… you’ve gone too far.

90 Lies an Hour is a hilarious and heartfelt collection of stories and songs never heard outside of the Trailer-Park until now.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 7pm | La-De-Da Performing Arts
The Coldharts, “The Legend of White Woman Creek”
Facebook event | Tickets on Eventbrite ($20)

A thirteen-song cycle of love, betrayal and revenge, sung by the Ghost of Anna Morgan Faber.

Since the late 1800’s, inhabitants of western Kansas and eastern Colorado have claimed to have witnessed the specter of a woman singing to herself at twilight, as she wanders along a dry, cracked stream-bed known as White Woman Creek.

Some say she was killed, some say she killed herself, others say worse… but to know the truth, you must hear Anna’s song for yourself.

“The Legend of White Woman Creek” is a one-woman folk opera inspired by a ghost story that weaves a tale of frontier life and peril through thirteen original folk songs, based on the traditional music of the era. A blend of music, history and folklore, it explores the roots of American expansionism from the vantage of a spirit unable to rest until she sets the record straight.

★★★★★

“No ordinary work of musical theater. Anything that can move an audience to tears (and a standing ovation) deserves the highest praise at the Fringe.”
–Edmonton Sun